Report: Mariota talked refs out of flagging UCLA LB

Some players look for every edge when it comes to winning a game, but it seems Heisman Trophy front runner Marcus Mariota isn’t sweating the small stuff these days.

He just wants to play football.

Proof of the Hawaii native’s ‘hang loose’ mentality was on display in the Ducks 42-14 win over No. 12 UCLA this past Saturday, according to this report from Rob Mosely of GoDucks.com. Bruin linebacker Jordan Zumwalt was getting overly-aggressive and demonstrative against the Ducks in the early going (see a compilation here) and had a run-in with Mariota late in the second half.

Mariota was heading out of bounds when Zumwalt crashed into him just as he stepped onto the sideline. A flag seemed imminent but, apparently, Mariota convinced the referee to ignore it.

“Anthony Barr said he heard Mariota tell refs on Saturday not to call a late hit on Jordan Zumwalt, and to let them play,” Ryan Kartje of the Orange County Register reported this morning. “Earned him respect.”

Not only did Mariota apparently say something to officials, but he tapped Zumwalt on the helmet while running back inbounds, as if to say, “good job, good effort.”

It goes to show that Mariota’s poise isn’t just reflected in the fact that he hasn’t thrown an interception in a Pac-12 record 292 consecutive throws. It also shows in how he sets an example for his teammates, who responded accordingly by recording a season-low-tying five penalties against the Bruins.

“I don’t know,” Mariota told Mosely. “I just try to keep my head, and my guys did an awesome job keeping their heads. They did come after us a couple times, and for our guys to hold their character really says a lot about this team.”

Like I said in a earlier post- Mariota is not just a superb athlete, but a humble stand up guy, a overall likeable person. Mariota definately deserves the Heisman trophy at this point in the season for his attitude and skills. Go Ducks!

My favorite part of this is that it would never have been found out if not for UCLA LB Anthony Barr. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how Zumwalt wasn’t getting flagged.

1990tiger says:Oct 28, 2013 9:12 PM

This is a stupid story. I somehow doubt the refs were influenced by a player’s plea not to throw a flag against the opposing team. He got hit out of bounds. If the ref was going to throw a flag, it would have been thrown before Mariota would have had a chance to recover from the hit and “talk the ref out of throwing the flag”.

How about this….players just play and refs just ref. Wouldn’t that be a nifty arrangement?

This was a borderline call. I can’t blame the ref for being influenced by a player saying, “No, it was ok, let us play.” He didn’t wrap up Mariota or throw him down on that play. The contact came just a fraction after Mariota was out of bounds. It wasn’t really a dirty play. A defender in that situation is watching the ball carrier, not the sideline.

The other stuff wasn’t borderline. Should have been penalties for taunting, at least. Refs might have lost control of that game if Oregon had responded. Interesting that it pretty much ended after that sideline play. Wonder if Barr told his teammates to cool it.

It’s cool that Barr was the one who told the story. If Mariota was the one talking about it, you’d wonder if he was just playing a PR game. That an opponent was the one who told the media lets you know that this is just who Mariota really is.

Manziel? We can all agree that Manziel is indeed better than Mariota at one thing — throwing to the defense. LOL.

dg0122 says:Oct 29, 2013 2:17 PM

That’s a dumb comment….

In Mariota’s case the game was well out of hand by that time. Manziel’s non called horse collar was the 2nd to last play of a 4 point game…

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thats weird, my comment is 80 up to 3 down and yours is 4 up 11 down

Manziel is a ‘me me me’ guy all the way

bluelinetruth says:Oct 29, 2013 2:50 PM

LOL @ tttrojan4life

No bias there, huh pal?

Just another USC reject running their ignorant piehole.

thekatman says:Oct 30, 2013 1:26 AM

Hey @blueline BS…. Is this the pot calling the kettle black?
Get a lofe and troll Obama’s blog, wher your filth can be put to use.